SOURCESSources & Notes

All pages opened 25–29 October 2026. Model figures are outputs of plate_model.py at the stated assumptions; they are estimates, not measurements.

The middlemen (D.5.3)

• SingStat – Hawker food price trends across cooked food establishment types, 2019 base (6 May 2024)
• SingStat – Consumer Price Index, December 2024 (2019 = 100)
• SingStat – Consumer Price Index, September 2026 (2024 = 100)
• SingStat – Import and export price indices, December 2023 (2018 = 100)
• SingStat – Import and export price indices, August 2026 (2023 = 100)
• CCCS – Fresh chicken distributors penalised for price-fixing (12 Sep 2018)
• Grab – GrabFood merchant service fee (Oct 2026)
• Vulcan Post – Grab's breakdown of merchant commission (17 Apr 2020)
• NTU, republishing CNA – Deliveroo's Singapore exit may lead to higher fees (26 Feb 2026)
• MSE – Operating surplus of operator-run hawker centres (15 Oct 2024)
• NEA – SEHC operators' commitments to stallholders (21 Jul 2026)
• MSE – Socially-conscious enterprise hawker centres, oral reply (24 Sep 2025)
• Kimly – Annual Report 2025
• Malay Mail, reporting CNA – HDB drops the mandatory budget-meal rule; to collect stall rents (10 Jan 2026)
• Enterprise Singapore – Rice Stockpile Scheme
• Malay Mail, reporting TODAY – Wholesale vegetable prices surge after Malaysian floods (20 Dec 2019)
• IRAS – Do I need to register for GST
• NCCS – Carbon tax
• MOM – Progressive Wage Model: cleaning sector
• MTI – Rent relative to revenue and gross operating surplus in retail and F&B, 2019–2024 (written reply, 7 Apr 2026)
• MTI – Market concentration in food delivery: commissions and fees (written reply, 7 Apr 2026)
• MOM and TCF – Recommendations on the Food Services PWM, 2026–2028 (16 Mar 2026)
• MSE – Support for stallholders at market and food centres: LTVP assistants (oral reply, 18 Feb 2025)
• Office of the Leader of the Opposition, republishing MND – HDB coffee shops tenanted to F&B chains (8 May 2024)

The plate over time (D.5.4)

• SingStat – Rebasing of the CPI (2019 as base year): weights
• SingStat – Import and export price indices, April 2018 (2012 = 100)
• SingStat – Import and export price indices, November 2019 (2018 = 100)
• EMA – Annual electricity tariffs by component, low tension, 2005–2022
• SP Group – Tariff information, electricity and gas (Q4 2026)
• Sunollo – Singapore electricity price tracker, quarterly tariffs 2022–2026 (secondary, citing SP Group)
• NEA – Revision to service and conservancy charges at MSE-owned centres (3 Jun 2023)
• NEA – Tender notice, December 2022 (Note 1(d): table cleaning at HDB hawker centres)
• NEA – Tender notice, August 2024
• NEA – List of hawker centres (17 Aug 2026)
• NEA – Annual Report 2016/17: new hawker centres (Ci Yuan, 20 Sep 2015)
• NEA – Allow local hawkers a decent livelihood (reply, 9 Jan 2020)
• MSE – Centralised dishwashing services (3 Oct 2022)
• MSE – Socially-conscious enterprise hawker centres: median rents, 2019 and 2020 (5 Oct 2021)
• MSE – Hawker stall rental: median winning bids (14 Oct 2024)
• MSE – F&B licensing cost and waivers (3 Nov 2021)
• MOM – Tripartite Cluster for Cleaners report (Dec 2016)
• IPS – Makan Index 2017, Working Paper No. 29 (May 2018)
• IPS – Makan Index 2.0, IPS Exchange Series No. 24 (prices of late 2022, published March 2023)
• IPS – Rising prices of hawker meals offer food for thought (commentary, 28 Mar 2023)
• The Online Citizen – Hawkers' business costs ignored in IPS study, says KF Seetoh (16 Mar 2023; copy hosted by IPS)
• Seth Lui – 8 unspoken problems that some Singapore hawkers face (Jul 2024; the dishwashing fee)
• MTI – Prices of hawker food and common household groceries: hawker-food CPI rates, 2010–14 (written reply, 13 Feb 2015)
• MTI – Increase in rent for food establishments, 2000–2019 (written reply, 1 Aug 2022)
• MTI – Rental costs as a share of total business costs (written reply, 1 Aug 2022)
• SingStat, via data.gov.sg – Food & Beverage Services Index (2017 = 100), at current prices, annual
• SingStat, via data.gov.sg – Food & Beverage Services Index (2017 = 100), in chained volume terms, annual
• SingStat – Retail Sales Index and Food & Beverage Services Index, March 2026 (2025 = 100)
• SingStat – Retail Sales Index and Food & Beverage Services Index, April 2026 (2025 = 100)
• SingStat – Retail Sales Index and Food & Beverage Services Index, May 2026 (2025 = 100)
• SingStat – Rebasing of the Retail Sales and Food & Beverage Services Indices, 2025 base year (Statistics Singapore Newsletter, Issue 1, 2026)
• MOM – Median gross monthly income from work of full-time employed residents, 2015–2025
• NEA – Measures to moderate hawker stall rents (reply to a Lianhe Zaobao reader, 14 Aug 2020)
• NEA – Mandatory for diners to return trays and crockery and clear table litter (14 May 2021)
• WIEGO – Singapore rental policy for stalls in hawker centres and wet markets (reproduction of NEA's policy, c. 2019; secondary)
• Asia News Network, republishing The Straits Times – Why should we bear the burden of budget meals and app discounts, some hawkers ask (22 Aug 2025; secondary)
• MSE – Budget meal options at hawker centres (written reply, 3 Feb 2026)
• CEIC – Singapore average retail prices of prepared food, 2014–2024 (secondary; SingStat's data)
• Dollars and Sense – Inflation watch, February 2022 average prices (secondary; SingStat's data)
• Vulcan Post – Hawker food prices in 2023 mark the highest increase since 2008 (27 May 2024; secondary)

Costs and prices

• MTI – Examining the cost drivers of hawker food prices (1Q 2015)
• MSE – Hawker cost structure (2 Jul 2024)
• MSE – Cost increases faced by hawkers (4 Aug 2026)
• MSE – Bulk purchase by hawkers (10 Jan 2024)
• SingStat – CPI, December 2025
• SingStat – Import and export price indices, August 2026
• SP Group – Electricity tariff revision, 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026 (30 Sep 2026)
• SP Group – Electricity tariff revision, Jul–Sep 2026 (the base quarter)
• Malay Mail – Singapore households to get 10.4% electricity tariff cut from October (30 Sep 2026)
• The Star – Electricity tariff for Singapore households to fall by 10.4% in Q4 2026; Rystad Energy expects a single-digit rise in Q1 2027 (30 Sep 2026)
• MOM – Food services PWM 2026–2028 (16 Mar 2026)
• MOM – PWM and individually run stalls
• Mothership – Electricity tariff up from July 2026 (30 Jun 2026)
• MustShareNews – Electricity and gas tariffs fall in Q4 2026 (1 Oct 2026)
• MAS and MTI – Consumer price developments in September 2026 (23 Oct 2026)
• Secret Singapore – Hawker food prices to rise by up to $1 (14 Apr 2026)
• CPF Board – Employer CPF contribution rates from 1 January 2026
• Grab – GrabFood merchant service fee: 30% plus GST (Oct 2026)
• Klikit – Delivery commissions in Singapore (2026; a vendor guide)
• Hack – Hawker interviews and Hawkernomics (2025)

Rents and landlords

• MSE – Written reply of 8 Sep 2026, including 2025 rent and fee medians at comparable centres
• MSE – Hawker centre rents (18 Sep 2023)
• MSE – Median rent for hawker stalls (5 Feb 2025)
• NEA – New measures to deter high bids for hawker stalls (4 Nov 2024)
• MSE – Tray returns (6 Jul 2021)
• MSE – Mitigating redundancies from tray return (14 Sep 2021)
• Home & Decor – Renting an HDB coffeeshop stall: $4,000 to $10,000 a month (1 Apr 2026)
• MSE – Hawker stall rentals (9 Sep 2024)
• MSE – Rental rates for non-subsidised hawkers (5 Feb 2024)
• MSE – Operating cost of a hawker centre
• NEA – August 2026 tender notice
• HDB – Eating-house PQM tender results
• HDB – Enhanced support for coffee shops (10 Jan 2026)
• Kimly – FY2025 press release
• Kimly – August 2026 corporate presentation
• EdgeProp – Keat Hong coffeeshop sale (Nov 2025)
• Mothership – Tampines coffeeshop sale and rents (2022)
• Dollars & Sense – 2025 hawker stall rentals
• Enterprise Singapore and MND – More coffee shops to offer budget meals (1 Jul 2024)
• Kimly – Corporate presentation FY2025
• SFA – Licensed food establishments (data.gov.sg)

Diners and spending

• SingStat – Household Expenditure Survey 2023
• SingStat – Food & beverage services infographic
• SingStat – Prevalence of e-payment, 2023
• IPS via CNA – Eating-out costs by town (2023)
• Richards & Mancino – Demand for food away from home (2011)
• Poh, M. – Decoding the Consumers of Hawker Food, Scholarly Review Journal (Fall 2026)
• SBF – RTS Link and cross-border spending
• Mothership – RTS Link delay (Oct 2026)

Regulars (D.4.2)

• NEA – High majority of patrons satisfied with hawker centres (Perception Survey of Hawker Centre Patrons 2018, 13 Jun 2019)
• Meat+Poultry – Repeat customers key to restaurant success (National Restaurant Association, 2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast)
• Toast and Resy – The Regulars Report 2026 (4 Jun 2026)
• Fast Casual – 7% of restaurant guests drive up to 50% of order volume (May 2026)
• Enterprise Singapore – More than 11,000 F&B stallholders have adopted e-payment since 2018 (MR 049/23, 26 Oct 2023)

Heritage-worthy stalls at the pilot centres (the Budget Book, B.9.6)

• The Ranting Panda – The complete list to the MICHELIN Guide Singapore 2026 (4 Aug 2026)
• MICHELIN Guide – Hawker guide: Chinatown Complex
• MICHELIN Guide – Hawker guides: Tekka Centre
• Roots (NHB) – Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre
• Mothership – Gerai Nenek Obek wins a Hawker Heritage Award (Jan 2021)
• data.gov.sg – List of government markets and hawker centres
• Eatbook – Maxwell Food Centre guide
• Seth Lui – Old Airport Road Food Centre guide

Income, rent paths, succession and licences (version 1.4)

• MOM – Advisory Committee on Platform Workers, Strengthening Protections for Platform Workers (17 Nov 2022), Fig. 1.1: median gross monthly income of full-time resident own-account workers by occupation, CLFS 2021
• The Online Citizen – KF Seetoh rejects hawker heritage rationale, says rental figures omit what stallholders pay (15 Sep 2026)
• MSE – Response to the Motion on Hawker Culture, Dr Koh Poh Koon (13 Nov 2024): the pioneer rent passes to immediate family
• NEA – Application form, Assignment of stall tenancy (11 Dec 2020): assessed market rent staggered (raised in stages) over three years
• NEA – Hawkers' Succession Scheme, FAQs (14 Mar 2022): the successor pays assessed market rent
• Parliament of Singapore – Official Report, 12 Mar 2013, Vol 90, Issue 13, Committee of Supply, Head L (MEWR): Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, 53% on subsidised rent; Grace Fu, the Stall Ownership Scheme leases
• Nigel Chua – When hawker brands expand: impact and implications of commodification (IPS News Fellow 2023, Institute of Policy Studies, June 2024), pp. 31–48

Public money

• CDC – Vouchers Scheme 2026 (June release)
• MCCY – Impact of CDC Vouchers (3 Feb 2026)
• NEA – Rent support for stallholders (2026)
• Mothership – July 2026 rental support
• CPF – Self-employed MediSave rates 2026
• CPF – Workfare Income Supplement
• MOM – Self-employed MediSave arrears (18 Feb 2025)
• SFA – Conditions for renewing a food retail licence: MediSave arrears
• CPF Board – Licence renewal with outstanding MediSave (4 Nov 2025)
• MSE – Reply to the adjournment motion on the hawker industry: COVID relief (3 Aug 2021)
• IRAS – Individual income tax rates, YA2024 onwards
• MSE – Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme 2.0 (26 Sep 2025)
• MSE – Subletting and the Hawkers' Succession Scheme (22 Sep 2025)
• MSE – Incubation Stall Programme: 99 stalls allocated, 37 now full hawkers (30 Jun 2025)
• Mothership – Hawker food prices up 6.1% in 2023 and 5.7% in 2022 (SingStat; see SingStat's own release above)
• DollarsAndSense – Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme: $1,000 a month for nine months (2020)